好英语网微软数字广告业务减记62亿美元
Microsoft owned up on Monday to the collapse of its biggest push into digital advertising, announcing that it would take a $6.2 billion accounting charge in its online services division for a failed acquisition.
微软公司在周一承认对数字广告业的大举进攻以失败告终，并宣布会在线服务业务方面计提62亿美元来应对此次的失败收购。
The accounting charge, called a write-down of good will, was essentially a write-off of the value of aQuantive, a digital advertising company that Microsoft bought in 2007. It will effectively wipe out Microsoft's fourth-quarter profit.
此次计提被称之为商誉减记，它实质上是减记了aQuantive公司的价值。该公司是一家数字广告公司，在2007年被微软购买。这一举措基本会抵消微软第四季度的全部利润。
The company said it took the write-down because "expectations for future growth and profitability are lower than previous estimates" for the online services unit.
该公司称选择资产减记是因为 “对在线服务部门的未来增长和利润预期低于早前的预测。”
"It's disappointing, but it is not a shock at this point," said Brendan Barnicle, senior research analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. "The industry has evolved beyond where aQuantive was when Microsoft bought it."
“这让人失望，但目前看来并不令人震惊，” 太平洋皇冠证券(Pacific CrestSecurities)的高级研究分析师布伦丹·巴尼克尔(Brendan Barnicle)说，“这一行业已经出现很大改变，远非微软收购这家公司时的情况。”
Microsoft does make money in online advertising, but has relied on a number of digital advertising partnerships.
微软确实从在线广告业务上有所收益，但这是有赖于几个数字广告合作项目。
The deal for aQuantive was struck when technology and traditional advertising firms were desperately seeking footholds in the world of Internet display advertising. At the time, aQuantive was the biggest company Microsoft had bought in its history.
在微软收购aQuantive公司那段时间，科技公司和传统广告公司都竭力在互联网陈列式广告中寻求一席之地。当时，aQuantive是微软有史以来收购的最大的一家公司。
A month before the aQuantive acquisition, Google, Microsoft's big rival in online advertising, purchased a similar firm, DoubleClick, for $3.1 billion. That deal has been highly profitable for Google, analysts say.
在微软收购aQuantive之前一星期，其在线广告领域最大的竞争对手谷歌公司(Google)以31亿美元的价格收购了一家类似的公司DoubleClick。分析家指出，此次购买为谷歌带来了巨大的收益。
The purchase of aQuantive may well have been driven by pressure Microsoft was feeling at the time, not only from the DoubleClick deal, but by similar acquisitions by other companies. Microsoft bought aQuantive one day after the WPP Group bought 24/7 Real Media, another digital advertising company, for $649 million, and a month after Yahoo agreed to pay $680 million for Right Media, an online ad exchange.
微软很可能是在感受到了外界压力的情况下收购了aQuantive公司。这种压力不仅来自谷歌对DoubleClick的收购，也来自其他公司的类似收购案 。在微软收购aQuantive的前一天，WPP集团以6.49亿美元买下另一家数字广告公司24/7 Real Media。 此前一个月，雅虎公司同意以6.8亿美元收购在线广告交易公司Right Media。
All of the acquisitions were in one or another part of the display advertising business across the Web. Once highly profitable by indiscriminately pasting digital ads across the borders of millions of Web pages, the business has become under pressure as companies like Google got better at aiming for individual tastes with search advertising.
所有的这些收购行动的对象都来自陈列式网络广告行业。曾经，在浩如烟海的网页中随意粘贴数字广告便能获得高收益，而如今，随着像谷歌这样的公司在定位于个人偏好的搜索广告方面越来越强大，数字广告业务也受到了压力。
With DoubleClick, Google appeared to be using that personalization technology for the placement of banners and other display advertising.
有了DoubleClick公司之后，谷歌似乎运用了个性化技术来置放横幅广告和其他陈列式广告。
Google used DoubleClick's huge inventory of Web ads inside AdSense, Google's self-serve ad placement technology for third-party Web sites.
在其针对第三方网站的自助式广告投放项目AdSense中，谷歌运用了DoubleClick的海量网页广告库存。
AQuantive was a well-respected online agency based in Seattle, but its focus was on design and client services. The company did have ad inventory and an ad placement engine similar to DoubleClick's at the time, but Microsoft did little to update it.
AQuantive是一家位于西雅图的著名网络公司，但公司的重心是设计和客户服务。收购时该公司的确拥有一些广告库存，及于DoubleClick公司类似的广告投放引擎，但微软并没有对其进行更新。
"It could have been another DoubleClick, but they would have had to know a business where publishers and advertisers meet, and then invest heavily," said Todd Sawicki, chief revenue officer at Cheezburger, a publisher of several popular Web sites.
“它本可以成为另一家DoubleClick公司，前提是他们得了解这个发行人和广告商紧密合作的行业，然后再进行大量投资。” Cheezburger的首席营收官托德·萨维茨基(Todd Sawicki)说。Cheezburger是数家热门网站的发行公司。